By Walter Broeckx
A few changes compared to our last match of last year. Lihtsteiner drops to the bench and Koscielny comes in the team to play in a 3 man defense with Mustafi and Sokratis. Maitland-Niles and Kolasinac as wing backs. Torreira also drops to the bench after having played a lot recentely. Aubameyang and Lacazette together up front. Ramsey also on the beach.
Arsenal: Leno, Koscielny, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Aubameyang, Lacazette.
On the beach: Cech, Lichtsteiner, Elneny, Ramsey, Torreira, Saka, Nketiah.
I really wonder if the Flemish match commentator has read Untold today as he is literally quoting our match article! The match started with a minute of silence for our former chairman Hill-Wood who past away last week.
A first chance when Iwobi gives a cross to Aubameyang but he shot over the crossbar from close range but it was difficult to keep the ball down. Arsenal starting dominant but after a few minutes the tempo drops. Kolasinac with a rush and he forces a corner when he was outcrowded. Arsenal again going backwards most of the time even when they are high in the Fulham half of the field. Fulham showing how to attack quick but Sessegnon curled his shot wide of the post. 0-0 after 15 minutes.
Xhaka almost giving the ball away when we play in front of our own penalty area but Sokratis can block the attack. Schurrle with a teasing cross towards Sessegnon but he completely misses the ball in a promising position. Iwobi has the ball on the left flank and Xhaka makes a run in the penalty area. The cross from Iwobi finds Xhaka and a control and a simple shot from 6 meters out and the ball goes in. GOAL! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 25 minutes.
Schurrle with a dropping shot but still a few meters over the Arsenal goal. 1-0 after 30 minutes.
Mitrovic with a good header after an attack from Fulham but Leno with a good stop on the line. Iwobi finding Kolasinac who cuts back but the effort from Xhaka is stopped by a defender and the keeper with an ulitamate reflex. Sokratis of alll players with a great move on the left flank but his shot is blocked by a defender. Aubameyang with a good header after a cross from Iwobi but the ball just missed the goal. Lacazette coming in from the left flank but the keeper kept the ball out somehow for a corner. That almost resulted in another chance but Fulham could clear for another corner. Xhaka then down and needing treatment. Xhaka was attacking wise excellent but in his defensive work a few keep your breath moments. 1-0 after 45 minutes. We could have been more in front but Fulham could have scored a goal aswell.
Torreira entered the field and Mustafi stayed in the dressing room after half time. A change to a 4 man defensive line up. Mitrovic with a header after a corner but no problem for Leno. Fulham with the better start in the second half but a good attack over multiple players with good movement the ball ends up in front of Lacazette who makes no mistake. GOAL!! 2-0 to the Arsenal after 55 minutes. Aubameyang, Iwobi and Kolasinac with the assist all being involved in the build up.
Lacazette away but this time the keeper could stop the effort from the French striker. Still 2-0 after 60 minutes.
The Fulham keeper did just enough after a cross from Xhaka to keep the ball away from his goal. Lacazette gets caught by an arm in the face by a Fulham defender but of course this is Arsenal so no penalty. Mitrovic with a dangerous header but Leno was in the right place. Torreira being fouled but again the ref gives nothing and from the attack Camara can sore. 2-1 after 69 minutes. What is the matter with these refs? Oh we know of course… Another foul on Maitland-Niles and again not given???? Fulham gets a lot of confidence from being able to do what they want against the Arsenal players. After 74 minutes Lacazette came off and Ramsey came on. The crowd didn’t understand this change.
FosuMensah plants his studs on the foot of Xhaka and the ref gives a foul and only a yellow. At least he gave a foul… Kolasinac again with a good run and a good cross to Aubameyang who hit the post but the ball came back to Ramsey who put it in the net. GOAL!!! 3-1 to The Arsenal after 79 minutes.
Aubameyang on his way but the keeper stopped his attempted lob. After 82 minutes Saka came on for Iwobi. From the corner the ball ends up in front of Aubameyang and his shot was deflected over the keeper and went against the net. GOAL!!!! 4-1 to The Arsenal after 84 minutes. The assist from Sokratis.
The ref then again giving nothing when Torreira was fouled and then Torreira also used force but then a foul was called. A great combination almost found Maitland-Niles at the end but a last minute tackle resulted in a corner. Xhaka almost with another chance but the ball was cleared and the ref made an end to the match.
Arsenal win their first match of the new year with a comfortable 4-1 win. Our strikers scored and if it wouldn’t have been for another lenient performance from the ref we could have kept a clean sheet.
Well done The Arsenal and may I wish you all a great 2019!
Xhaka’s goal was a bit against the flow of play.
So far the team has been slow in their build up. It’s hard to say what is happening further up field because you don’t see all 11 players on a stream but Fulham seems to have taken away the middle of the pitch from us.
I like this formation, which I think has the best potential for defensive stability when all players are healthy. A back 3 of Koscielny, Sokratis, and Mustafi are all quality CBs, with Holding and Mavrapanos as replacements.
At wing back choice between Monreal/Kolasinac and Bellerin/AMN/Lichsteiner
In midfield choose 3 of Xhaka/Torreira/Ozil/Guendozi/Iwobi/Ramsey and Elneny and ESR as replacements.
Of course a front 2 of Lazazette and Aubemeyang. Hopefully Nketiah and possibly Welbeck as replacements.
We are getting some shots on target, now let’s get a few more goals.
COYG!
Another treatment (Xhaka), with no sign of a foul or card in the commentary.
Score has changed (2-0), no comment as yet
COYG!
Lacazette! The passing took Fulham apart.
Another treatment (Lacazette) and no mention of foul or card in commentary.
COYG!
Let’s get that goal back Gunners!
Commentators all over our defense. ‘Arsenal can’t seem to keep a clean sheet!’…Very adeptly missing the obvious barge that took out Torreira leading up to the goal.
That’s now 3 treatments (Maitland-Niles) to the Gunners, and no mention of foul or card.
Maybe we should spend some money on refs…really they can create goals and chances
Yes…off the post and Ramsey puts it in.
How to go Aaron Ramsey!
COYG!
Auba!!
Come on Saka
COYG!
Wonderful, another goal for PEA!
COYG!
I don’t get it! An obvious professional foul…no card! Sokratis down on the pitch…he’s no woos.
We could use some more goals (for goal difference) Gunners!
COYG!
My commentators say that 4-1 is a flattering scoreline…but when ‘pool scores 5 after being gifted 2 penalties they ‘earned’ every one. Well, I suppose, their diving ‘earned’ the penalties.
Is that Craig Forrest commentating GGG? I think he hates Arsenal.
COYG!
My men of the match are Sokratis and Kolasinac with a shout out to Guendouzi and Maitland-Niles.
A fourth Arsenal treatment (Guendouzi), no foul or card mentioned.
COYG!
@Gord…nah…I am watching a MSNBC stream.
…er rather NBCSN stream
Come on Cardiff!
WOO HOO, HOO ! No clean sheet, but well deserved 3 points.
Another blind person doubling up as a PIGMOB ref.
Sigh!
Up the Gunners !
@ggg, 5-1 flattered arsenal. could easily have been 8-1.
Too much crap in the medja again. Advice from former Arsenal people who just want to destroy things, news that isn’t possible and so on. Maybe future employment contracts include provisions to stop the crap from “ex-players”? As Tony has pointed out, many of the transfer stories have no chance of being true.
For example: Metro reports that Arsenal have lodged at 14M contract (who cares what the currency is, the report is crap) with Real Madrid for Navas. Navas is not classified as a homegrown English player. Arsenal’s roster is full with respect to non-English players. The report is crap. A figment of the imagination of some medja idjut who has drunk too much beer.
We are now 21 GameDays into the season. On GameDay1, medja idjuts were pounding on the Arsenal defence being lucky. They are still pounding on the Arsenal defence being lucky.
If the Arsenal defence were only 90% good, 0.9^20 is 12.2%. We should be relegated already.
If the Arsenal defence were only 95% good, we are now at 36%. Probably still relegated.
If the Arsenal defence were only 97.5%, we are finally over 50% at 60.2%.
If Arsenal defence is 0.99%, we would be at about 82%. Guess what, 82% of 20 teams is about 5th place.
So we have been absolute crap all season at 99%. Dorks!
Aziz
01/01/2019 at 6:07 pm
Why stop at 8-1 ? The referee scored 2 so could have been 16-0 if he wanted to score more. Not even my whole family could have stopped him if we stood on the goal line.
One thing that cannot change is the league win at Shankly town, when we stole all the Liverpool hubcaps with a Mikey Thomas goal!!
Torreira was fouled and stepped on in the build up to Fulham’s goal. It was a red card offense that didn’t even draw a foul. The commentators seemed uncomfortable with discussing it, probably out of fear for their careers had they criticized the ref but it was obvious play should have never been allowed to progress. This game was wrought with such decisions, and it’s actually quite pathetic.
Wenger gone and we still get this kind of treatment. What do we actually have to do to get a fairly officiated match in the EPL?
‘Torreira was fouled and stepped on in the build up to Fulham’s goal.’ This is a summary of the treatment Arsenal have endured since the formation of PGMOL. They are the elite select officials of the FA in one Limited company, above English Law & beyond the secrecy of MI5.
Then again there is one devil ‘nick’ that knows better and will have a substantiated opinion why human error can be attributed with such a variance in blindness that neither the push nor the stamp were seen by officials nor captured by the cameras or the brilliance of the commentators.
Technology has no influence on the relevance of truth. Bring on VAR and see how well truth will be masked with total disdain despite clear visual images.
The 50th match evidence is an ongoing example of the sheer brutality and shamlessness that these people have for truth.
Test
Whilst I’m an extraordinary way from being fluent in Portugese, the stream I was watching was very clear that there was a foul on Torreira in the build up to the Fulham goal and also that the FosuMensah offence was a red card. I can decide whether it’s refreshing to hear such unbiased commentary or whether it gets my blood fully up to boiling point!!
That’s quite an interesting Mikey. I wonder what could be learned if we did a side by side analysis of the same match but in a number of different languages.
Commentary has a way of colouring an outcome. We see how it can affect people’s very opinion when they’re told throughout a match that “Liverpool won 2 penalties fairly” or “Arsenal can’t keep a clean sheet” or “Man United ended the Arsenal undefeated run through superior play”, that it just becomes the truth. We don’t really trust ourselves anymore and the media know it.